This Congressman Wants To Stick Taxpayers With $12 Billion Debt For Hurricane Sandy

Representative Chaka Fattah (D-PA) has introduced a bill that would not only provide $12 billion to fund FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, but he wants that put on the taxpayer's tab in addition to the $16 trillion plus debt we already have..

Obviously Fattah, like so many bureaucrats doesn't understand basic economics as he claimed that these billions should not have to be offset by spending cuts or new revenue. So just where does he think this money is going to come from, seeing that we have a massive debt already? I suppose it will be to get the Federal Reserve to just print it up.

“The American people deserve, and insist on, the kind of first-rate recovery response that FEMA can provide,” Fattah said in a statement. “But we cannot do it on the cheap. Congress must step up and provide the federal resources this emergency requires.”

No they must not. People in those areas pay for government. They pay for insurance and now insurance companies will have to pony up that money. This also demonstrates why government, especially local and state governments need to not waste taxpayer money on frivolous things like stadiums, arenas and a whole host of non-essential things.

Any additional funding would violate the spending caps Congress put in place in the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011. However, the BCA allows for funding above the caps in cases of national emergencies of natural disasters.

If the funding is approved without offsets, it would almost certainly have to be borrowed because the government currently runs a large cash deficit, meaning that the $12 billion Fattah proposes would have to be added to the national debt of $16 trillion.

“We have always provided necessary funding for emergencies without cutting the budget elsewhere, and the pay-go rules of the House provide for these exceptions. Clearly, with major population and commercial centers along the East Coast and in the Midwest hobbled, this is such an emergency,” Fattah said.

No we have not. Furthermore, it is not the responsibility of government to be charitable with public funds. If anyone is responsible for that, it is individuals and as we saw with Katrina, many individuals, churches and charity groups will be on the scene to actually help those in need. By the way, with the pictures I've seen of the destruction wreaked by Sandy, I'd say $12 billion is a low-ball number anyway.

Don't forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook, Google Plus, & Twitter. You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here.

Join the conversation!

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.